DIMAPUR, JANUARY 18 (MExN): The WC, NNNPGs has taken strong exception to the way in which the Naga Hoho recently addressed the Naga political issue with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his visit to the state as part of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
A press release from the media cell of the WC, NNPGs said that the Naga Hoho President HK Zhimomi and General Secretary Elu Ndang “continue to sink further in the eyes of Nagas, making insensitive remarks sitting atop a directionless Hoho.” “The degenerated and biased narrative does not reflect the sentiment of the Naga people in any manner,” it claimed.
It said that the ruling and opposition party leaders in India, including Rahul Gandhi, and “every sane Naga” understands that GoI initiated and concluded political negotiations with two Naga entities, the NSCN (IM) with Framework Agreement as concluding document in 2015, and with WC, NNPGs with Agreed Position signed in 2017, as a preamble agreement allowing the negotiators to touch all core issues concerning Naga history, identity and political rights.
The Naga people, irrespective of political and administrative boundaries, have all understood the political reality through the WC, NNPGs Status Paper, released to the Naga people after the official conclusion of negotiations on October 31, 2019, it stated.
The WC NNPGs said that the Naga Hoho, if they really represented the Naga people, would have saved themselves from further embarrassment had they approached Rahul Gandhi with inclusive views on the Indo-Naga political issue.
“Strangely, these unprincipled few, who very often blames the past Congress governments for the Indo-Naga imbroglio, for once, cosied up to a visiting Congress leader and took potshots at current BJP government at the centre. Tomorrow the script is different. They will curse Congress party again and sing paeans to Prime Minister Modi,” it stated.
The WC NNPGs said that the Naga Hoho should have appraised the visiting Congress leader with a common Naga approach. The Naga people, it maintained, needed the Naga Hoho to speak for future generations by boldly conveying to the Congress leader that early honorable and acceptable political solution, that which is practical in the present intricate geo-political environment in SE Asia, was the only way forward for peaceful Nagaland and NE.
“Alas, each member clamoured to speak for himself serving the purpose of Hebron camp alone, which is nowhere a common Naga narrative,” the WC NNPGs said. It claimed that the Naga Hoho leaders “do not understand the head or tail of the Framework Agreement and its contents yet they had to appear all knowing.”
Going further, the WC NNPGs alleged that the Naga Hoho works to “keep bluffing Indian leaders and outside world using NH banner by parroting what is parroted to them in Hebron camp.” This, it stated, is driving the Naga family further apart. “Selective memory on Indo-Naga issue by Naga Hoho and few recently formed high sounding forums is to thwart a just and honorable political solution. They write to mislead the GoI and prolong Naga people's aspiration. Their expression is clear that they exist to sow further discord and division in Naga homeland,” it claimed.
It further stated that the “appalling attempt to stay relevant by pushing in irrelevant agendas in the already mutually concluded political negotiations is only delaying the Naga people of their right to live with dignity, honour and respect.” It questioned who is profiting from this “delaying business.”
The WC, NNPGs said that it has laid the negotiated status paper before the Naga people. “The Naga tribes, the state Government, civil societies and Naga intellectuals have all commented on its practical feasibility without compromising Naga history and identity. All core political and administrative matters in the Post solution scenarios have been structured for honorable and acceptable existence,” it stated.
It added that the Naga people and their ancestral lands in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam have been “adequately safeguarded through proposed constitutional guarantees,” while maintaining that the Government of India (GoI) has made its position clear. “Those seemingly conniving to sabotage and prolong the Indo-Naga political solution for personal gains will be on the dark side of history,” it said.
